Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis will be addressing young people at an
indoor gym in the Athens district of Egaleo on Wednesday, ruling New
Democracy spokesman George Koumoutsakos announced in a press briefing
on Tuesday.

The spokesman also referred to the possibility of a one-on-one
televised debate between Karamanlis and the leader of the main
opposition, PASOK President George Papandreou, saying that Evangelos
Antonaros had undertaken to arrange a meeting between the two parties
to discuss the details of such a televised encounter.

According to Koumoutsakos, Karamanlis would participate in at least one
televised debate between the party leaders and he criticised PASOK for
setting terms and using them as an excuse to avoid the party leaders'
debate.

Earlier on Tuesday, Karamanlis had a meeting with Parliament President
Dimitris Sioufas, one day after the Parliament was dissolved for
general elections. No statements were made afterwards.

PASOK leader George Papandreou met on Tuesday with Bank of Greece (BoG)
Gov. George Provopoulos, focusing on the "economic impasse with which
the country is faced," a main opposition party spokesman stated.

Papandreou underlined the need for a "new architecture" in the banking
system to ensure appropriate business financing and economic growth. He
also stressed that "cliental spending" in the public sector will have
to be curbed and suggested redistribution of public spending while
simultaneously implementing radical reforms in taxation.

The spokesman outlined the core of the announcements the PASOK leader
will make in Thessaloniki stating that a PASOK government will proceed
with the adoption of measures to protect consumers from the
consequences of the terms included in loan contracts, the
reconstruction of the economy and the implementation of new type
regulations on the economy.

He also stated that a uniform property tax (ETAK) will be replaced by a
"gradual" taxation of large properties, while as regards the settlement
of the illegally enclosed spaces in buildings, he commented that the
issue will be "re-examined" after the elections.

The Cross-Party Elections Committee convened at the interior ministry
for the first time in this pre-election period on Tuesday, chaired by
Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

After the end of the meeting, the Committee announced that the
broadcast time allocated to smaller political parties and party
coalitions with elected representatives will be increased, in both
private and state-run radio and television stations.

Specifically, the two larger parties will each be allocated 37.5
percent of total free broadcast time (down from 40 percent in the
previous general elections), while the smaller parties will share the
remaining 25 percent (up from 20 percent in the previous elections).
Also included in the smaller parties is that of the Ecologists-Greens,
which succeeded in electing one MEP to the European Parliament in
June.

Tuesday's meeting also decided that there should be two televised
debates between the political parties: one between the leaders of the
two main parties and one with all the party leaders with elected
representatives. The details of the process and the terms of these
encounters are to be decided by the political parties themselves.

Regarding the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), which is going to
the elections without a leader at its head, the committee decided that
the party must itself decide who will represent SYRIZA during radio and
television broadcasts.

On the issue of party funding from the state budget, this was set at
4.5 million euros and at a lower rate than the previous general
elections because of the preceding European Parliament elections in the
same year.

Pavlopoulos noted that 39 circulars relating to the elections had been
signed in record time, showing that the procedures of the pre-election
period had been largely made automatic. He also pointed out that hiring
in the public sector and local authorities was forbidden until the
election of the new government.

The minister said there would be one more meeting of the Committee that
would include a representative of the Ecologists-Greens party. This was
not represented at Tuesday's meeting, since the first meeting of the
Committee has to decide whether parties elected in the European
Parliament elections will participate.

The Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) alliance and its component
members remain united and their supporters remained rallied about them,
Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology (SYN) party leader Alexis
Tsipras stressed on Tuesday.

"Those who see a possibility that SYRIZA will be left out of political
things in the country will be proved wrong," Tsipras stated after a
visit to the Geotechnical Chamber of Thessaloniki.

Tsipras underlined that the more obviously the media and other
political groups displayed their anxiousness to see the renewalist and
radical Left removed from the political map, the more strongly they
would rally SYRIZA supporters and all progressive citizens to SYRIZA's
support:

"It is now apparent that the plans for majority governments and grand
coalitions in order to promote anti-working-class policies depend on
eradicating SYRIZA and that it should not be present in the political
things of the country," he noted.

Tsipras's statement comes after a weekend when SYRIZA flirted
dangerously close with complete disintegration, prompted by
disagreements over who should lead the political alliance in the
elections. This was averted at the 11th hour when SYN finally backed
down from a demand that Tsipras lead both SYN and SYRIZA and replace
Alekos Alavanos as head of SYRIZA's Parliamentary group.

In a last-ditch effort at compromise, the warring sides agreed to go to
election without any leader at the head of the ticket, stipulating that
each candidate would enter Parliament based on the number of votes they
received individually. Shortly afterward, Alavanos announced that he
will not be a candidate in the elections.

Piraeus Bank on Tuesday expressed optimism over its performance this
year and over the prospects of taking advantage of future opportunities
in the market.

Christodoulos Antoniadis, the bank‚s deputy chief executive, speaking
to reporters in Thessaloniki, said the securitisation of high-quality
assets of Greek banks have significantly boosted their liquidity, while
he predicted that Piraeus Bank‚s credit expansion this year would grow
by 7-8 pct.

‚Banks never stopped giving loans, it was just a re-pricing of some
relations,‚ Antoniadis said.

He noted that the Greek bank has opted to freeze its branch network
expansion programme for 2009, but it was expected to resume again in
2010.

Antoniadis said Piraeus Bank has approved so-called ‚green‚ bank
products worth more than 600 million euros in the last five year, and
that it was expecting to approve another 1.2 billion euros in the next
two years.

A Turkish military radar on Tuesday reportedly issued a warning to a
Latvian helicopter patrolling in the eastern Aegean -- part of the EU's
Frontex programme to combat illegal immigration -- to leave the area.

According to a Hellenic Air Force announcement, the incident occurred
as the Frontex helicopter -- identified as an Italian-made Agusta A109
-- was patrolling in Greek air space near the small isle of
Farmakonissi, which lies on a favorite route used by migrant smugglers
ferrying mostly Third World migrants into Greece and the EU from the
opposite Turkish coastline.

The incident marks the latest provocation in the eastern Aegean by the
Turkish military against EU craft participating in the Frontex
programme.

Caption: A file photo dated June 6, 2008 shows an international
anti-smuggling operation off the coast of Cyprus. ANA-MPA / K.
CHRISTODOULOU.

Greek stocks continued rising at the Athens Stock Exchange on Tuesday,
with the composite index of the market ending at 2,511.81 points, up
0.59 pct. Turnover was a moderate 196.7 million euros, of which 4.3
million euros were block trades.

Greek hotels‚ revenues are expected to fall by 16-18 pct this year, the
Institute for Tourism Research and Forecasts (ITEP) announced on
Tuesday.

The institute attributed this decline to four main reasons: decreased
arrivals, shorter overnight stays, reduced spending and lower hotel
prices.

ITEP noted that the expected percentage of decline in hotel revenues
was very high and crucial for the viability of hotel enterprises.

Tourist arrivals in the country‚s largest airports fell 9.0 pct in
August, after a 6.0-pct decline in July, with arrivals in the
January-August period falling 8.5 pct, compared with the corresponding
period in 2008. ITEP noted that the country‚s tourist season will be
completed at the end of September, with forecasts for the month
expected to be worse when compared with the July-August period.

ITEP said the disappointing performance reflected chronic structural
problems within the Greek economy and the tourism sector, and of
course, the ongoing international economic crisis.